A team of seven officers, who would pay regular visits to schools, has been disbanded. A pool of teachers will instead be trained to educate pupils in Manchester about the rules of the road.

School road safety officers have been scrapped under cost-saving plans.

A pool of teachers will instead be trained to educate pupils in Manchester about the rules of the road.

A team of seven officers, who would pay regular visits to schools, has been disbanded.

Bosses are proposing to reduce the team to just one or two staff but will launch a consultation with staff before making a final decision.

The changes will help shave £132,000 from the council’s highways budget as part of a two-year £170m savings plan – which was set out last year following a 21 per cent cut in the city’s overall funding from government.

The remaining officer, or officers, will deliver initial training to teachers, who will then be directed to a website – featuring the city’s road safety mascots Togo and Nogo – to access resources. The town hall will also send out additional training materials.

Coun Paul Andrews, executive member for neighbourhood services, said: "The government’s financial settlement had a significant impact on funding for road safety.

"The reduction in funding has forced us to find an alternative way of ensuring young people across Manchester continue to be educated about the importance of staying safe on the city’s roads, but the change will not mean a reduction in the quality or amount of road safety teaching.

"We are now developing a system to work closely with schools across the city, supporting them in training their own teachers to educate pupils about road safety, and we are continuing to provide a slightly reduced service while this is being finalised."

The council said a consultation had taken place with headteachers, who backed the plans.

Two of the seven road safety officers were among 2,000 town hall staff who took voluntary redundancy or early retirement last year.

A council spokesman said remaining members had been temporarily working on other duties within the highways department while the new structure was drawn up. A two-week consultation with staff was due to start this week.

The council launched a review of all school-crossing patrols after the cuts were announced. Town hall officers rated each patrol red, amber or green, according to whether it was considered high, medium or low risk. Councillors pledged to safeguard all red and amber sites following an M.E.N. campaign.

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